FlatOut: Head On (PSP)

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Wheeled racing may never get much better than FlatOut: Head On on the PlayStation Portable. With the lack of a promised entry in Sony's watershed racing series Gran Turismo for the handheld, the market is wide open for entertaining racing action, and this game fills that open space perfectly.

It's not all just turning left and right that puts FlatOut on the map. The series is probably best known for its gimmicky mini-games in which you launch your driver through the windshield. It's been knocking around on the PC and home consoles for a few years now, but this the series' first handheld iteration. Head On is built around much of the content in the Xbox 360's Ultimate Carnage and does a great job of paring things down into bite-size bits of racing action.

Carnage Mode is the primary way to play. It features one-shot events where high scores earn you trophies. It's got a clever unlocking function based on a running total score from all events, so even the most novice racers will eventually earn enough points to open up everything available. It's a great way to keep everyone playing regardless of skill level and makes each of the unique types of challenges accessible. These events range from standard races on the game's varied circuits to demolition derbies and stunts.

One thing is certain in every event: You don't just want to go fast, you also want to wreck everything around you. Tracks are littered with objects to smash, and not just for the heck of it. Take down huge lines of fencing or smash through signage lining the road to pump up your Nitro meter. With more Nitro comes more speed, and thus better crashes when you catch the guy in front of you. The best possible level of destruction comes from blasting your opponent out of his car while exploding it in a fireball. It's all worth points in carnage mode, too, so you really want to be as reckless as you can while still being competitive in the race. After all, you get a higher multiplier if you can do all this from the front of the pack. There's a constant trade-off between aggressiveness and good driving that's key to the game's appeal.

FlatOut mode is also available if you want to buy and unlock cars, upgrade them, and race through multi-event series. It's just as entertaining as Carnage, but more because the cars are your own and success is less assured. Finishing at the front of a race is much more difficult, requiring you to know the circuits and be light on the steering wheel while also being able to withstand constant bumps from the artificial intelligence drivers as you drive through the debris littering the road -- and there's a heck of a lot of debris. The PSP hardware is put to the test as it's asked to render complex cityscapes with bits of cars and roadside flotsam flying everywhere. It admirably keeps up with the mayhem and sustains a superb frame rate throughout play.

During all this racing, you also get the cool side job of shooting your driver at various targets. These action events include easy tricks like the high jump and bowling, but difficulty ramps up when kicking field goals, shooting baskets or scoring goals on a soccer field. Each of them works sort of like ancient arcade title Track & Field's javelin throw with a car for propulsion. You race to the launch point, set the angle with a button push, and then control your body in the air with an extra "nudge" available to get that last bit of height or distance. It seems ridiculous the first few times you participate, but quickly becomes a nifty diversion from the game's racing and crashing. It's also perfect for portable play as you can fire off five frames in bowling or three attempts at the flaming rings in just a few minutes of play.